IAAF bars five Russians for employing banned coach

Moscow: The IAAF has barred five Russian race walkers from competing internationally after they were accused of working with a banned coach.

The five apparently travelled to Kyrgyzstan last month for a training camp with Viktor Chegin. Among those stripped of IAAF “neutral athlete” status is Sergei Shirobokov, last year’s world silver medallist in the 20-kilometer walk. They have been barred from this weekend’s world team championships in China. Chegin was Russia’s top race-walking coach but was banned for life in 2016.